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Finding the right telemarketing solution for your business can be challenging, but it’s crucial. This is because the performance of the solution will determine how efficient your telemarketing team is.
This is why you must approach the activity of choosing telemarketing software system with an objective in mind. Your objective will also determine how you get the best results.
The Types of Telemarketing
The most popular forms of telemarketing are:
1. Outbound Telemarketing
- Outbound telemarketing is generally done to reach out to prospects or customers to sell goods, to give them information, or to collect feedback.
- Agents call prospects or customers from a database (purchased or the company’s own) and try to achieve the targets that have been set for them.
2. Inbound Telemarketing
- This is when prospects and customers make the first contact. They reach out to agents for information after reading a number on a hoarding or in an ad, or after filling a form on a website where they request for a call.
- Agents provide the necessary information to prospects and try to convince them to take some action. Or they try to upsell or cross-sell to existing customers.
3. Automated Telemarketing
- Automated telemarketing is one of the most recent innovations in telemarketing where a prerecorded voice informs prospects of what they would need to know and guides them to take further action if they’re interested.
- This form of telemarketing could also put people off since they don’t speak to a human being. But since the close rate of outbound telemarketing is quite low, automation can reduce the costs while reaching a larger prospect base.
- Also, automated telemarketing can be used as reminders to existing customers for renewals, subscription upgrades, upcoming events, payment clearance, and other important information.
Types of Telemarketing Software
The most effective telemarketing software is available cloud-based because it’s easy to implement and use, easy to scale, and easy on the pocket. The key differentiators of effective software are:
1. CTI Integration
- Computer-Telephone Integration with existing CRM software ensures that your agents have the necessary information about prospects and customers before getting on the call. They can also set reminders for follow-up calls and leave detailed notes which the next agent will find useful.
2. State-of-the-Art Technology
- Modern software syncs with all call centre technology and tools as compared with previous versions which needed specific hardware and software to run on. It’s also quick to install and use, which means your call centre can be up and running within 72 hours.
3. Customization
- Based on your business objectives and processes, you can even get the telemarketing and call centre software customized. This enables your agents to deliver a better customer experience and get an edge over your competition in the process.
The most useful features for software of telemarketing are:
1. Predictive Dialer
- As the name suggests, a predictive dialer automates the dialling process, to the extent that it can make 4 times more calls than human beings by rapid successive dialling. You can load the contact details in the system, and it starts dialling right away, thus ensuring that your call centre agents are more productive.
2. Voice Recording
- This feature lets you record inbound and outbound calls and listen to them at your convenience. Thus, you can review whether agents are professional on calls, are giving the right information, and whether they’re following the script.
3. Real-Time Call Monitoring
- Listening to recorded calls means you can only give feedback on calls that have been finished. Real-time call listening software lets you monitor the quality of calls on the go. Managers also get the flexibility to remotely barge into the call and speak to the customer, or only speak to the agent without the customer being able to hear the same.
4. Queue Monitoring
- Calls are not the only aspect that managers want to monitor real-time in a call centre. They also want to monitor the number of calls waiting, the number of calls dropped, the number of agents available and on break, agent wait time (the time between wrapping up a previous call and connecting to the next one) and so on. Modern telemarketing and call centre software doesn’t just track all of this. It also generates reports about the same within seconds.
5. Performance Management
- To keep call centre agents motivated, rewarding the top performers and working towards improving the bottom performers is important. The analytics and dashboards of telemarketing software prove incredibly useful for this. They provide daily, weekly, monthly and custom performance statistics of individuals and teams. Managers can mine this vast data to plan the next course of action to improve their performance of their teams and their floors.
6. Interactive Voice Response
- Human beings are not the only aspects of a call. An IVR has replaced phone receptionists and attendants. IVR systems save costs, work in non-working hours, and provide prompt service to callers. IVR’s are for both inbound and outbound call centres and can help to push and pull marketing.
Telemarketing software has advanced in leaps and bounds in the last few years. It can help you analyze performance and make the improvement, integrate with various software, and automate many tasks to make them more efficient and effective.
As mentioned in the beginning, choose your telemarketing software with an objective in mind. This will ensure that your business gets the best out of it.
